His last solo album has scanned nearly six million copies and his most recent output, Hell: The Sequel, with Royce Da 5’9″, is well over gold in sales. Suffice to say, Eminem isn’t losing sleep over whether or not he can afford cable in every room. And with such financial security, he can also afford to do as he pleases. Including turning down $6 million dollars in guaranteed money to simply perform as he’s been doing to promote his releases.

The Big Day Out is a festival held annually throughout several cities in Australia and New Zealand and the promoters wanted Slim to headline the circuit this coming January. No dice. Word has it that Prince and Blink 182 were also amongst the big name backouts but like everything in entertainment, the show must go on. Visit www.bigdayout.com for dates and ticket prices.

Big Day Out quickly went from one of the most exciting line ups in years to the least exciting. Kanye West was announced as the headline act, but was later pulled in several cities (including mine) to cut costs. Odd Future were on the bill but were pulled in Auckland after one person complained, saying that they promote hatred and violence towards homosexuals.

Hearing that Eminem was offered the headline makes it even worse. I believe he passed up the $6 million pay day because he was making $15 million from his Australian tour earlier this month. [www.youtube.com]